It’s not a surprise that there are a lot of older gentlemen in Texas that would like to return to the days of the Southwest Conference. In effect, the state of Texas annexed Arkansas in athletics and rode that for decades until the house of cards fell apart. Jerry Jones, Arkansas alum and wealthy Dallas Cowboys owner par excellence, has allegedly been trying to get Notre Dame and Arkansas into the Big XII.

Why Notre Dame? God only knows. Maybe because Jones got used to seeing the Irish in the Cotton Bowl so many times. But, that spoke to South Bend makes even less sense than the ACC stretching from Coral Gables to Chestnut Hill. Just an aside, but the ACC is like the Chile of conferences. Anyway, the Notre Dame thing was pretty much a no-go, but initial rumors said that Arkansas was definitely considering it.

On Wednesday, a report emerged that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would like to see Arkansas (and Notre Dame) join the Big 12 which would instantly make it one of the top conferences.

According to Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com (via Twitter), that report has some legs.
“Sources tell OB Arkansas has definitely put out feelers about possibly joining the Big 12, but the B12 votes don’t appear to be there yet.”

Don’t draw so quick on your gun, son. Within hours of the Thursday morning furor, the Arkansas athletic director came out and said that there was nothing to it, and that the Razorbacks and the SEC were BFFs, the end.

Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long says the school has “no interest” in joining another conference amid speculation that the Razorbacks could be a candidate to move to the Big 12.

Long said Wednesday that Arkansas is happy in the Southeastern Conference. The Big 12 recently lost Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-10, leaving it with 10 members.

But what of the Big East, the football conference of the walking dead? Talk came out that the conference that was thought to be left a smoking crater by the Big Ten and ACC is looking at Central Florida and Memphis. Considering that FedEx boss Fred Smith was looking for a BCS conference for Memphis and its quarterback, his son, that could have had some validity. Until, that is, Big East commissioner John Marinatto said differently.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto and other league officials told FanHouse that an Orlando TV report claiming the Memphis and the University of Central Florida would be invited to join the Big East as soon as next week is inaccurate.

“Those reports are not true,” Marinatto (right) told FanHouse Thursday.

Orlando’s WKMG sports director David Pingalore reported Wednesday night that “multiple college football sources” indicated UCF and Memphis could receive an invitation as early as next week. Pingalore reported the invitation is “highly likely.”

So there’s that. Even if it were true, adding two more schools would give the Big East a ridiculous 18 teams in basketball. Insanity. And we’re back where we were before. The Pac-10 has 12 teams, the Big Ten has 12 teams and the Big XII has 10. But something says that within 10 years, there will be another grab that further shakes up the college football world.

There are 34 bowl games this year, and we’re picking every damn one of them (probably with 60-70 percent success). You can follow the progress or join up and do battle with us through ESPN College Bowl Mania. We’re in “The League” and “The War Against Tebow.” TWAT (jokes!) is the brainchild of decamped S.C. blogger and good time Johnny, Micah Snead, so go there. But beware — Snead’s dad is a total ringer and will probably take the title by 20 points.

Dec. 19, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
Fresno State v. Wyoming

Dec. 19, 8 p.m., ESPN
Central Florida v. Rutgers

Dec. 20, 8:30 a.m., ESPN
Southern Miss v. Middle Tennessee State

Dec. 22, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 18 Oregon State v. No. 14 BYU

Dec. 23, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 23 Utah v. California

Dec. 24, 8 p.m., ESPN
Nevada v. Southern Methodist

Dec. 26, 1 p.m., ESPN
Marshall v. Ohio

Dec. 26, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 17 Pitt v. North Carolina

Dec. 26, 8 p.m., ESPN
Boston College v. No. 24 Southern Cal

Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Kentucky v. Clemson

Dec. 28, 5 p.m., ESPN2
Texas A&M v. Georgia

Dec. 29, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
UCLA v. Temple

Dec. 29, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 15 Miami v. No. 25 Wisconsin

Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
Bowling Green v. Idaho

Dec. 30, 8 p.m., ESPN
No. 20 Arizona v. No. 22 Nebraska

Dec. 31, Noon, ESPN
Houston v. Air Force

Dec. 31, 2 p.m., CBS
Oklahoma v. No. 21 Stanford

Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Navy v. Missouri

Dec. 31, 6 p.m., NFL Network
Minnesota v. Iowa State

Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 11 Virginia Tech v. Tennessee

Jan. 1, 11 a.m., ESPN
Northwestern v. Auburn

Jan. 1, 1 p.m., CBS
No. 16 West Virginia v. Florida State

Jan. 1, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 13 Penn State v. No. 12 LSU

Jan. 1, 4:30 p.m., ABC
No. 8 Ohio State v. No. 7 Oregon

Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m., Fox
No. 5 Florida v. No. 3 Cincinnati

Jan. 2, Noon, ESPN2
South Florida v. Northern Illinois

Jan. 2, 2 p.m., ESPN
South Carolina v. Connecticut

Jan. 2, 2 p.m., Fox
No. 19 Oklahoma State v. Ole Miss

Jan. 2, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
Arkansas v. East Carolina

Jan. 2, 9 p.m., ESPN
Michigan State v. Texas Tech

Jan. 4, 8 p.m., Fox
No. 6 Boise State v. No. 4 TCU

Jan. 5, 8 p.m., Fox
No. 10 Iowa v. No. 9 Georgia Tech

Jan. 6, 7 p.m., Fox
No. 25 Central Michigan v. Troy

Jan. 7, 8 p.m., ABC
No. 2 Texas v. No. 1 Alabama